Decisions, Decisions…

Hi again! It’s me, Elfie. Some of you may have read posts I’ve previously posted here on my website, but it’s been a LONG time since I’ve written anything. My webmaster has suggested that it would be good to post regularly and I’ve WANTED to, but not badly enough to buckle down and just do it… Unless I have a big, audacious goal to report on, my style has been to let it lag.

So, if I’m writing again, it must mean I have a big goal! Actually, I’ve been thinking about something big!

A couple of weeks ago while hiking, I had the idea of training for the Copper Hills 4 Peak Challenge in North Peoria in Arizona. If you’re not familiar with the CH 4Peak Challenge, it’s an 11 mile hike over 4 peaks in Peoria, or a 20+ mile run over the same course. I’m the Director of the challenge and this will the third year we’ve hosted the event. I was thinking about creative ways to get the word out that this is a great event for all ages and for most levels of fitness. I thought of training for the elite runner’s level because to hike the 4 peaks really isn’t an audacious goal for me; I’m a veteran hiker. I’ve done big hikes in the past, so naturally my goal has to be more demanding than hiking the 11 miles.

The only thing left would be to run the 20 plus miles, if I were to train for the CH 4Peak Challenge.

Running and hiking are different. I feel like I can hike all day long! Running is a different story for me. It’s HARD! I have sciatic issues that have provided the excuse not to run. I’ve been trying to decide if I can even do this. It’s been a WAY more difficult decision that whether or not to go without sugar or wheat for a year (read about that here I did it! One year without Sugar and Flour!! I’m still sugar-free/wheat-free by the way; it’s almost 4 years now!

I went to talk to Doug at Foothills Sports Medicine Physical Therapy (a sponsor of CH 4Peak Challenge for the past 2 years and again this year) about the feasibility of me running the race. He assured me that he and his team would be able to take care of the chronic issues I’ve had with some simple procedures and therapy when needed. I also talked to Jan at Howard Performance (who has written training schedules for the hiking portion of the challenge) and she too, was confident I could do this.

Can a hiker become a runner on the hills of Peoria in 5 months? When 3 of those months are steaming…sweltering…scorching hot?